A La Carte Activism
A LA CARTE ACTIVISM – April 4, 2026 – Santa Cruz, California. USA
Gabe Cartwright looked a little green as he fiddled with his seatbelt and tried to keep his eyes on the curvy mountain road. This was his first automobile trip on Highway 17, which connected California’s Silicon Valley with the coastal community of Santa Cruz.
“This looks like the summit. All downhill from here,” Alexis Yu said from the driver’s seat of the Nissan Leaf. She glanced at Gabe and added, “You gonna be okay?”
“Yeah. I’m just not used to curves this fast.”
Alexis smiled to herself. Gabe’s lack of car experience was one of the many quirks she had discovered about him. He did not own any kind of vehicle or have a driver’s license. He survived by living close to his software engineering job in downtown San Francisco and either walking or riding public transport everywhere. When Alexis and Gabe started hanging out after work, he always suggested eating at the same conveniently located restaurants.
“Don’t you want to do more exploring?” Alexis asked him. “Visit places not near a subway stop?”
“Not really,” Gabe answered flatly.
But eventually, his desire to be alone with Alexis broke his short leash. She convinced him to get in her car for a trip across the Golden Gate Bridge. She still chuckled over his reaction to a seatbelt and the way he gawked at the steering wheel and dashboard. It did not seem possible that he had never been in a car before, and yet he acted so out of sorts, he might as well have been beamed into a flying saucer. Alexis decided it was sweet and cute. Gabe was an endearing combination of helpless and genius. He was a grown child prodigy who needed help with some of the simplest things in life.
Gabe felt the same affection toward Alexis. It did not take long before they spent almost all their free time together. The trip to Santa Cruz would be their first joint visit to the place where he grew up. And more importantly, it was a first chance for her to meet his parents. The visit was a relationship milestone and was scheduled for the entire weekend.
Alexis had been to Santa Cruz before but only as a diversion. She thought of the place as a beachside surfing town – the closest spot to visit the ocean if you lived in the Bay Area. Santa Cruz had a boardwalk and amusement park and was a fun place to spend an afternoon. Before meeting Gabe, she had never considered it as a place where people might live full time.
A mist covered the redwood trees growing near the summit of Highway 17. As Alexis’s little car sped downward to lower elevations, the sky cleared. Glimpses of the flat, dark-blue Pacific appeared in the distance.
“We must be getting close,” Alexis said. “What exit should I take?”
“I have no idea,” Gabe replied. “Aren’t you using GPS?”
“Yes, but I wanted you to confirm.”
“I’d trust the GPS.”
After leaving the freeway and taking a few turns on some side streets, they successfully arrived at the address Alexis typed into her phone. The house was modest in size and had a single story, with a bit of a yard in front. The neighborhood looked like it had been built in the 1960’s or 70’s. The ocean was nowhere in sight. Minus the distinctive palm trees, the street looked like it could have been part of any American city.
“We better not park in front of the house,” Gabe said with a nervous voice. “What if we parked one street over?”
“What for?”
“I think they do street cleaning. They don’t want cars around.”
Alexis looked at the half dozen parked cars in front and behind her. “Are you sure? I don’t see any signs about street cleaning.”
“Please, let’s just park on the other street.”
Gabe sounded agitated enough that Alexis continued driving until she found a nice spot on a parallel street. She and Gabe dragged their roller bags from the car to Gabe’s parent’s house. When they reached the cement walkway leading to the door, Gabe turned to Alexis and said, “We should tell my parents we took a bus here.”
“Why?”
“It’ll just make things easier.”
Before Alexis could ask another question, the door opened revealing a gray-haired couple. Gabe’s dad resembled a bearded hermit holding a mug of tea. His mom had a calm, patient face, perfect for an elementary teacher or librarian. She wore reading glasses attached to a loop around her neck and a patchwork skirt that looked homemade. Both parents rushed to hug and kiss Gabe before warmly greeting Alexis.
“Come in! Come in!” Gabe’s mom said excitedly. “We’ve got beds ready for both of you.”
She led the way to Gabe’s old bedroom where Alexis was supposed to sleep. Next door was something of a hobby room where a cot was set up for Gabe. On one side of the cot sat a table packed with multiple 3D printers and a menagerie of plastic printed parts.
“If I need to fix something, I just print the part I need. No more searching,” Gabe’s dad said proudly.
The other side of the room was stuffed from floor to ceiling with sewing projects orbiting a sewing machine.
“Your legs must be stiff from sitting,” Gabe’s dad said. “How about a walk around town to stretch them out? We can build up an appetite for lunch.”
Alexis said she thought it was a good idea and Gabe’s dad led them all toward the beach. He did not follow any main roads and instead preferred narrow alleys and a half-mile stretch along the railroad tracks. He narrated nonstop about the plants and trees growing along the way. He also knew when every building was constructed.
“This is like listening to a chatbot read Wikipedia pages,” Alexis thought to herself. She wanted to whisper the same thing to Gabe but was afraid he might be offended.
They reached the beach and barely had time to touch sand before Gabe’s dad decided it was time to return. He took a different, meandering path home, dictating facts along the way.
“Your father and I will finish preparing lunch in the kitchen,” Gabe’s mom said to her son. “Maybe you and Alexis can set the table.”
The two guests were happy to help and were sitting down in front of empty plates when Gabe’s mom brought out what she called the “fruit and vegetable course.” Thin tomato slices sat on one side of a white ceramic serving tray. The other side held plum wedges arranged in a circle.
“Oh, this is so pretty,” Alexis said of the tomatoes and plums as everyone pulled slices from the platter. “I love taking food pictures, but I forgot my camera in the car. Let me just run and get it.”
Before she could stand, Gabe’s dad looked fiercely at his son and cried, “Car? What does she mean by a car?”
Alexis put one hand over her mouth, remembering how Gabe had told her to claim they had arrived by bus.
“Don’t tell me you took a car all the way from San Francisco!” Gabe’s dad shouted in disgust.
Gabe dropped his head to his chest and painfully said, “We did. I’m sorry.” As his mortified parents looked on, Gabe explained to Alexis, “They don’t believe in private cars. They think everyone should ride bikes, buses, or trains.”
Alexis sounded desperate to cover her mistake as she said, “Well, if it’s for environmental reasons, I totally understand. My car’s completely electric and it charges with solar panels on the roof of my apartment. No fossil fuels.”
“Gas or electric, I hate them all,” Gabe’s dad angrily replied.
Gabe’s mom looked at her son and asked, “How could you not tell Alexis how we feel?”
Gabe opened his mouth to answer but could not find any words that made sense. His dad then said, “It makes me think you’re using cars all the time in your new life.”
“No, I’m not!” Gabe exclaimed.
His parents gave him hurt and disappointed looks and the room grew unbearably silent. Alexis had no idea what to do or say. The longer the silence lasted, the more embarrassed and unwelcome she felt. She considered walking out, getting in her car, and driving home.
Finally, Gabe said, “I’m sorry. I know I’ve broken your hearts by riding in a car, but can we maybe move on with lunch?”
His dad and mom grumbled before standing and retreating to the kitchen for the next course. When his mom returned carrying a tray of food, she said sullenly, “This is meant to be like Spanish tapas. We’ve learned all about them in our Spanish class at Cabrillo College.”
The plate contained olives, roasted potatoes, and cured ham on top of toasted bread. Alexis looked down at the ham in horror and completely forgot the embarrassment she was feeling only a few seconds earlier.
“You know I’m vegan!” she cried to Gabe. “I can’t eat this! How could you not tell them?”
Gabe looked meekly between Alexis and his parents and said, “Maybe you could just eat the potatoes and olives.”
“I don’t want meat anywhere near my food! Look, it’s touching the potatoes!”
Gabe’s mother raised a horrified hand to her mouth and said apologetically, “We didn’t know. And it’s not like we eat a lot of meat ourselves. Only on special occasions. And mostly fish.”
“Fish are living things, just like pigs,” Alexis replied coolly. “They all should have rights.” She turned to Gabe and said, “I thought you were vegan too. You said you respected me.”
Gabe’s mom quickly interjected and said, “We respect you. If we would have known, there’s no way we would have put ham in front of you. Seems like Gabe isn’t sharing enough information with any of us.”
Gabe covered his face with both hands and let out a frustrated groan. Then he stood. A blood vessel in his temple pulsed angrily. “I’m sorry, okay? Everyone around me has something they believe in and I can’t keep track of all the a la carte activism. I know these things are your most important issues in the world, and I should be just as into them as you, but I guess I was more worried about everyone getting along this weekend. Sorry for not being perfect.”
His parents and Alexis stared wide-eyed until Gabe was through. Then his mom giggled. “You’re always cute when you get angry.”
Gabe huffed, now upset that he was not taken seriously. His dad chuckled and then belly-laughed in a way Alexis would never have expected after their very serious walking tour. “You’re right,” he said through his laughter. “It reminds me of when he was in that play and he demanded they stop the whole thing because people weren’t listening to him.”
“Midsummer’s Night Dream,” Gabe’s mom added. “At the Shakespeare festival.”
At first, Alexis could not decide how to react. She wanted to sympathize with Gabe, who remained standing with folded arms and a pouty face. But the more his parents giggled, the more she could not resist giggling herself.
Gabe’s mom turned to Alexis and asked, “Would you like to see pictures from the play?”
“Yes, I would. Very much.”
“I’ll need to find the right photo album. We take all our pictures with film. We don’t like the digital versions.”
“Neither do I,” Alexis eagerly replied. “My camera’s film too.”
“Oh, what kind do you have?”
“A Leica.”
“So do we,” Gabe’s mom replied with a surprised smile.
Gabe sat down with a sigh. His dad looked over with a self-important grin and said, “That was an excellent rant, my son. And maybe for now we can put this behind us. We’ll take the food back to the kitchen and bring back something less objectionable. You and Alexis go get her camera. And she can park her car in the driveway. There’s a first time for everything.”
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